Brawl Stars Gameplay and Rules

06/27/17

Game Guides

Brawl Stars: Gameplay and Rules

Brawl Stars is a new top-down MOBA from Supercell, the company behind hits like Clash of Clans and Hay Day. As of right now, Android users are left out in the cold as Supercell has decided to release Brawl Stars as a soft launch on iOS in Canada. Latest word from the company is that an Android beta version is on its way, but the team has run into some bugs that need to be worked out.

In the meantime, this is a great chance for us to help you get familiar with every aspect of this sure-to-be hit video game. Let’s start out with some Brawl Stars gameplay and rules because you can’t enjoy a game if you don’t know how to play it… Duh.

Gameplay of Brawl Stars

In Brawl Stars, you take on the role of a fighter battling it out to score a mighty bounty of gems. Currently, there are fifteen available brawlers that players can play as. As with Supercell’s previous smash-hit Clash Royale, the brawlers are split into four rarity types: common, rare, epic, legendary. Players can obtain brawlers in a variety of ways, including paying premium currency for them. For more on the brawlers, check out our Brawl Stars Roundup article.

The game is played in a top-down, portrait-style fashion with multiple other players. Technically, Brawl Stars is classified as a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game since most of the action takes place within an old mine shaft, but in traditional Supercell fashion, this is not a normal take on the mobile MOBA genre. Many traditional MOBA elements are absent, which leave many gamers debating the true classification.

To control your brawlers, Supercell has given us two separate control styles: tap and joystick. As one would expect, Tap Mode allows for control via tapping on your device’s screen. Joystick Mode gives players a small joystick button at the bottom of the screen that can be used to control your player. Both options have several customization options that make Brawl Stars one of the most personalized MOBA experiences available on mobile.

Brawl Stars Game Modes

Brawl Stars has been released with multiple game modes. By selecting the ‘Brawl’ tab at the bottom of the screen, players can pull up four slots that will rotate with various games and maps. These game modes will be available for 12 to 24 hours at a time and will rotate on a regular basis. While each mode has different objectives and rules, they are all multiplayer fights within the same arena. The game modes are:

Bounty

Smash and Grab

Heist

Showdown

Let’s take a closer look at each mode and see exactly how they are played.

Bounty

In Bounty, two teams of three will fight to the death within the confines of a dangerous mine. Teams are colored red and blue. The goal is to score as many kills as possible within two and a half minutes. Every player will have a bounty on their head listed as stars. When you kill a player, you receive their bounty, and each kill raises your bounty one star.

Smash and Grab

This will be one of the most popular game modes in Supercell’s Brawl Stars Android release. Two teams of three will be set on opposite sides of the mine shaft with a gem-producing mine right in the neutral area. Every few seconds, the center mine will produce a gem that all brawlers will hustle to grab and control. If a brawler is killed, all of their gems are poured into the arena for everyone else to snatch up. The team that can collect and hold onto ten gems for 16 seconds is declared the winner.

Heist

The Heist game mode requires that one team of three must protect a safe containing gems and riches, while another team of three brawlers attempts to attack and pop open that safe. The attackers must make their way through a field of dangerous obstacles and destroy the defender’s safe before a timer runs out to win the match. Each player can either play defense or offense during Heist, and it is completely random as to which side a player gets chosen for.

Showdown

The one game mode that is going to give Smash and Grab a run for its gems, Showdown is a true free-for-all where ten brawlers battle out to the death. Showdown mode is the only game mode that does not have teams, making it every brawler for themselves. The arena is packed with explosive boxes that can be destroyed for power-ups, but these power-ups can also be obtained from fighting other brawlers. Each power up will add hit points and attack percentage to your fighter. A number above each brawlers head will indicate how many power-ups that player has collected.

To ensure none of you sneaky brawlers simply hides out until the action is over, the mine shaft will slowly start filling up with poisonous gas. This gas will begin to creep in along the outer edges of the arena and begin closing in until there is only a tiny space left for the final one-on-one showdown. This gas will do a couple hundred damage points, so hanging around in this stuff is not a wise idea.

There are the game modes, rules, and how to play for Supercell’s hit Brawl Stars. Some of the details may change, but it is unlikely that entire game modes will be deleted or altered greatly. You are now ready to take on the world with BlueStacks 3 and Brawl Stars once it’s released for Android.